Taking a vehicle abroad

Taking a minibus abroad and remaining within the law is far more complicated than, for example, taking your car to France.

Here we assume that your passengers will be contributing to the cost of their trip.

In planning a trip abroad the two requirements that are most likely to cause difficulties are:

Driver licensing – drivers must have passed a D or D1 driving test. The exemptions which allow people to drive a minibus in the UK on their car licence, whether they passed your driving test before or after January 1997, do not allow them to drive a minibus in other EU countries. They must have a current D1 or D entitlement on their licence, gained by passing a D1 or D driving test (D is a PCV licence for more than 16 passenger seats). They cannot drive a minibus abroad with only a category B car driving licence or if they only have ‘grandfather’ D1 entitlement because they passed their driving test before 1997.

Tachograph – for all other EU countries the minibus must be fitted with a tachograph. Drivers must comply with EU drivers’ hours regulations and the tachograph must be used throughout the trip, from the moment the trip commences in the UK.

Another potential obstacle is that, depending on the age of the minibus, it may need to be fitted with a speed limiter, restricting its maximum speed to 100kph (62mph).

In summary, before taking a minibus abroad you need to obtain expert advice.